Discussing The Delicate Balance of Sharing & Selling Your Images
If we took infringement fear to the extreme, then we’d never even download images off our DSLRs. But then would our images be as valuable – not to mention, how would we ever make a living selling them? Richard Kelly, Pittsburgh-based photographer and educator, argues that there’s a way to share and sell your photos, without giving up your copyright or going nuts over the possibility of image theft.
We spoke with Richard to learn more about how he balances his images’ security and profitability in this video. Richard covered everything from ways to educate yourself about social media platforms’ terms and conditions, to the various licensing models available to freelance photographers. “We tend to worry about things we have no control over, like social media, when we should be focusing on how to make more money from our images,” says Richard.
Here are Richard’s three tips for educating – and supporting – yourself as a freelance photographer:
- Join and participate in a community, like ASMP, that includes likeminded photographers.
- Build a team of business advisers that includes an accountant, business lawyer, Intellectual Property attorney, and an insurance broker or agent.
- Start an “Accountability Team” made up of 3-4 independent creators and meet once a quarter to help keep you accountable for your business plan and bounce ideas off of.
Richard also shared a number of different links during the live event, including:
Image Licensing Models-
Traditional copyright licensing
–ASMP
-USEPLUS
-Creative Commons
Registering Your Copyright-
Tracking Your Images Online-
-Experiment with technologies that add value to your images
-Use tracking technology
- TinEye
- Google Image > Reverse Image Search
Additional Resources-
-The Photographers Guide to Copyright (free)
- By Photoshelter & the ASMP
- http://bit.ly/copyrightguide
-The ASMP guide to New Markets in Photography ($16.96)
- Edited by the late Susan Carr
- http://bit.ly/asmpmarkets
-The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook ($21.95)
- By New York attorney Nancy E. Wolff
- http://bit.ly/legalhandbook
To view the slides from this webinar, visit here. All links are active so you can access all the resources and documentation!